Guilty plea in DUI accident that killed boy, 9

February 14, 2013|By Brian L. Cox | Special to the Tribune

Carter Vo, 9, of Skokie, was killed in May 2012 near Main Street and St. Louis Avenue in Skokie. After the crash, friends and relatives erected a temporary memorial near the intersection. (Tribune file photo)

The Skokie woman charged with DUI in the crash that claimed the life of a 9-year-old boy has pleaded guilty to all charges and faces up to 14 years in prison when sentenced in March, prosecutors said.

Hanin Goma, 23, was charged with felony aggravated DUI resulting in death and misdemeanor driving under the influence of drugs in the May 22 accident that claimed the life of where Carter Vo, 9, of the 4600 block of Madison Street in Skokie.

Goma, of the 5000 block of Wright Terrace, had pleaded not guilty to all charges, but on Wednesday she entered a "blind plea" of guilty to all charges at the Skokie courthouse and will be sentenced on March 20, prosecutors said.

The move marked a sharp turnaround for Goma because, three times in the last two months, she had refused to accept a plea deal offered by a judge in which she would have been sentenced to five years in prison in exchange for her guilty plea.

By entering the "blind plea" on Wednesday, Goma is essentially throwing herself on the mercy of the court and can be sentenced to anywhere between three and 14 years in prison, prosecutors said. They also said the length of the sentence is totally up to the judge's discretion.

According to investigators, Goma was driving from her cashier job on May 22 and, as she turned left onto Main Street in Skokie from St. Louis Avenue, she struck an eastbound van causing her car to spin over the median and land on the northeast corner sidewalk, where Carter Vo, a Skokie boy, was riding his bike.

Officials said Goma’s car pushed the bike across St. Louis Avenue, where it continued to slide until it hit a parked car. Vo, a second grader at Madison Elementary School in Skokie, died at the scene. Prosecutors said that blood and urine tests showed that Goma had cannabis and amphetamines in her system when the crash happened.